AMG18 v Minister for Immigration

The applicants, AMG18 and others, sought judicial review of a decision by the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) to refuse their protection visa applications. The applicants, who claimed a fear of harm in Vietnam, had their claims disbelieved in critical respects by the IAA, and other fears were found not to be well-founded. The matter came before Judge Driver in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The primary legal issues before the Court were whether the IAA had misconstrued an argument presented by the applicants as new information, whether the IAA's decision was legally unreasonable, whether the IAA had overlooked the circumstances of the child applicants, and whether the IAA erred in considering whether to receive certain documents.

Judge Driver found that the IAA had made a jurisdictional error by rejecting a submission from the applicants as new information when it was not. The Court reasoned that the IAA's mischaracterisation of the submission constituted a failure to properly consider the applicants' case, thereby vitiating the decision-making process. The Court did not make findings on the other grounds of review raised by the applicants.

The Court ordered that the decision of the Immigration Assessment Authority be set aside.